Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the United States, filed for bankruptcy in the early hours of September 15, 2008, after an exodus of clients, drastic falls in its stock prices and downgrades by credit rating agencies. Its collapse has been described as a key point in the global financial crisis, with some commentators referring to a “Lehmans Moment”.

On Monday, it will be six years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. With the US economy still operating below par and Europe struggling to stay above water, the question is whether the right medicine was given after 2008.

Five years after US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis and shattering confidence worldwide, families in major countries around the world are still hunkered down, too spooked and distrustful to take chances with their money.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) eight-member Lehman Brothers team, having hit one dead end after another over the previous two years, concluded that suing the bank's executives would be legally unjustified.

RBS is the latest bank to reach a settlement with the Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority after investigations into whether bank staff mis-sold risky products to customers.

Although the taxpayer-funded Financial Dispute Resolution Centre has handled far fewer cases than expected in its first 10 months of operation, industry players say it has made banks and brokers handle client complaints more seriously.

When I became the first non-executive chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in 2006, the world was cruising on a path of moderate growth, stable employment and subdued inflation, and asset prices were continuing to rise. Less than a year later, the world was hit by the subprime crisis that shone a spotlight on opaque markets that operate in the shadow of regulated markets.

Bank of China Hong Kong, the overseas arm of Bank of China, expects loan demand to weaken even further in the current half as Hong Kong's economy suffers from the uncertain outlook in Europe and the United States.